


5 Times Tyrathan Reunited With Vol'jin + 1 Time He Didn't

by Flarenwrath



Category: Warcraft - All Media Types, World of Warcraft
Genre: 5+1 Things, Anal Sex, Canonical Character Death, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-24
Updated: 2018-06-24
Packaged: 2019-05-27 20:09:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,972
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15032258
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Flarenwrath/pseuds/Flarenwrath
Summary: Five times Tyrathan reunited with Vol'jin and one time he didn't. Takes place during Shadows of the Horde.





	5 Times Tyrathan Reunited With Vol'jin + 1 Time He Didn't

1-  
There was no mistaking Vol'jin of the Darkspear. 

And Tyrathan had recognized the troll for who he was the moment he was brought into his room. Vol'jin was covered extensively in bandages, his hair poorly kept, and he could hardly move from the bed, but there was a presence to him that, despite Tyrathan only having seen him once years before amidst feverish combat, was unmistakable.

The monks of the monastery had made their rules clear when he had first arrived, so Tyrathan was not shocked when he had been given the task to assist with the new chores Vol'jin's presence had brought. And so even though his instincts screamed at him to stay a safe distance from the Darkspear, he had done what the monks asked of him and silently collected and cleaned the troll's bloodstained bedding. He could feel Vol'jin's gold eyes fixated on him the entire time, and had hoped that would be the last of it. 

But he should have known there would be no such luck.

"It is now time to visit with our other guest." A young female monk standing in his doorway said with a small bow. Tyrathan pressed his lips into a line, the only visible sign of displeasure at the request, before pulling himself to his feet and following her. The troll's room was not far from his own, but with his leg slowing them down, it took longer than it needed. To the monk's credit, she didn't seem to mind his pace.

"Taran Zhu has given you another task today.", she said in that calm but cheerful manner that most of the monks in the monastery had, "You know how to play Jihui, yes?"

Tyrathan nodded and she smiled brightly in return. "Good! Our new guest can sit now, so you will be showing him how to play today." His instincts told him that Taran Zhu was interested in more than keeping his guests entertained with board games, but he knew it was impossible to try and lie his way out of it.

When they reached Vol'jin's door there was another monk already on his way out. The two of them bowed to each other in greeting before they ushered Tyrathan inside. 

Just like the monk had said, this time Vol'jin was sitting upright. The bandages around Vol'jin chest and neck had been freshly changed and he was staring at Tyrathan with an intensity that made the human's hair stand on end.

"We will send for you when it is time," the female monk said before departing and closing the door behind her, leaving the two of them completely alone.

Tyrathan swallowed around the lump in his throat, willing himself to relax and show no weakness to the troll. There was a small table with the Jihui board already prepared and stool next to Vol'jin's bed that had not been there before. He sat down at the stool that was clearly intended for him and resolved himself to get through this as quickly as he could.

"What do you know of Jihui?" Tyrathan started, not wanting to offend the troll by assuming he was ignorant in any way. After having spent so long both in the company of trolls as well as hunting them, he knew better than to deliberately anger one.

Vol'jin's narrowed his eyes at him, giving him an appraising look that made him clench his jaw. "None", the troll answered, his voice raspy and breaking from the strain of even just the one word. Tyrathan's eyes widened by a fraction in surprise. He saw that Vol'jin's neck had been injured, but he never suspected it was _that_ bad.

"This is the board-" he started explaining as he gestured to the bamboo board in front of them, Vol'jin's eyes finally looking away from him to the board. "-These are the pieces." Tyrathan twisted open the lid of the black container holding the die and rolled them out onto the board. "There are twenty-four in total, twelve are yours and twelve are mine." He paused for a moment in his explanation to let the troll ask any questions.

Vol'jin picked up a piece and rotated it between his fingers, carefully inspecting the red dots and dashes before his eyes flashed back to Tyrathan. For a moment, Tyrathan could feel his heart skip a beat. Being this close to a troll, even an injured one, tested every ounce of willpower he had to remain collected and not fall back into the mindset of who he used to be.

"Same?" Vol'jin asked as he rolled the die onto the board and knocking into the other pieces. It took Tyrathan a moment to understand what the question was since the troll had such a limitation with his voice.

"Yes, we have the same pieces," Tyrathan split the die so that six were in front of Vol'jin and six were in front of himself, putting the other twelve back into the cannister and effectively setting up a mock version of a game. He made sure to lay them out so that Vol'jin's pieces and his own were showing the same faces. 

"They start the same, but on your turn you can change the pieces to their different sides-" he demonstrated by taking one of the smaller ships and rotating it to a new side. "See? Now it is stronger-" he pointed at how it had more dots than its previous side, "-but moves slower," he pointed at the side's fewer dashes.

Vol'jin watched the board carefully and nodded in understanding. He picked up one of his own die and rotated it to a new face the way Tyrathan had.

"On your turn you can either keep the face you have and both move and attack or you can change the face and only move or attack." He moved his own pieces on the board showing both possibilities. "Or you could choose to do nothing and randomly select a new ship." He picked up the cannister and rolled out a new die.

Vol'jin mused over his pieces for a moment before his gold eyes stared down Tyrathan again. He could see the challenge flashing there.

"Win?" he asked. His voice was stronger with that one question than with any of the others. Tyrathan wondered if it was because the troll wanted to see him defeated or if he had something to prove.

"You don't win," he answered in the best way he could. The goal of Jihui was to 'find balance' and was completely foreign to any other game he had ever experienced on Azeroth, and although his answer to Vol'jin wasn't full truth, it was the only way he could think to explain it so that the troll would understand.

Vol'jin didn't seem to like that answer because he let out a deep and raspy growl in response and knocked the cannister over, spilling the rest of the dice onto the board. Tyrathan's jaw clenched tightly again, preparing himself for a fight. He and Vol'jin stared one another down.

"I win." Vol'jin insisted with a frown as his voice cracked again.

Tyrathan blinked once in amazement when he realized exactly what was happening. 

Vol'jin, leader of the Darkspear, Shadowhunter, feared leader of the Horde, had misunderstood what Tyrathan had said; instead of hearing 'the goal is not to win,' he had misunderstood the human's words to mean 'you cannot beat me.'

And he was throwing a tantrum about it.

The thought alone was enough to make Tyrathan crack a smirk which only spurred Vol'jin to further annoyance. The Troll went to stand, in an attempt to intimidate the human, but fell short halfway through the movement and collapsed back onto the bed.

This was enough, it seemed, to spark the monks into movement as they burst into the room and quickly ushered Tyrathan out into the hallway so they could attend to their injured guest.

Once alone in the hallway, Tyrathan couldn't help but let out a laugh.

 

2-  
Vol'jin's strength was returning to him with each passing day. 

It wasn't that Tyrathan was jealous of Vol'jin's recovery progressing faster than his own—he knew how quickly Troll's recovered if left alone to lick their wounds— but the more Vol'jin healed the more the monks expected him to help with the chores in the monastery.

Which meant more of Vol'jin's attention being drawn elsewhere.

They still had their daily matches of Jihui together, of course. But over the passing weeks the two of them had begun developing a rapport with one another that, through no fault of their own, was impossible with the Pandaren. They were a peaceful and harmonious people, and try as he might to connect to them there was just no way they would be able to understand the years of bloodshed he had seen between the Horde and the Alliance. 

Vol'jin, however, understood that intimately, and over the last few days, Tyrathan was starting to come to the understanding that the idea of losing his connection to the only person who had any hope of understanding him caused his stomach to twist into knots.

It was partially because of this growing realization that pushed him to finish his chores faster than normal that morning so that he could retreat up the mountain to think.

He nodded to one of the monks guarding the monastery's gates as he left, and followed the path of the small, snow-dusted trail up the side of the mountain. It wasn't long into his trek before his leg started aching and he was forced to rely more heavily on his crutch. He cursed himself for what must have been the hundreth time since the monks had first helped him back onto his feet for letting all of this happen. If he were smarter, he thought bitterly, he would have just died.

A strong gust blew past him, threatening to make him lose balance, as he made it to the small cave inlet on the mountain side. Stepping inside and out of the wind he settled himself down on a rock that had become his makeshift seat and let his mind wander.

Taran Zhu had told him in one of their rare private moments together that he was trapped in a room with many doors and that he could only move forward when he found the right one that fit him. 

Even after days of contemplation, he was no closer in understanding what the monk meant by that. For a brief moment shortly after coming to the monastery he thought he knew, but Vol'jin's unexpected arrival had made him rethink things. His original intention was to recover and return home... simply pretend that everything was okay, that the lives of those hunters who were sacrificed for his own were for his safe return to his family. But now a tendril of doubt wormed its way through him.

His time spent with Vol'jin reminded him of the year he spent in Stranglethorn and of the troll he had 'lived' in such close quarters with. If he were selfishly honest with himself, he would have to admit that even then he never wanted to return home to his wife. He had wanted so terribly to stay in Stranglethorn with the troll he could have loved.

Tyrathan's stomach dropped and he felt sick.

What kind of husband would he be if he didn't return home?

What kind of man would he be if he abandoned his duties and his people?

What kind of life would he live if he let this second chance for a happiness pass him by?

Distantly, he was aware that the wind was howling outside the cave entrance and that what was once the occasional flake of snow was now growing into a full blizzard. But he couldn't move, he couldn't even feel the cold. He was doubting himself so much that he couldn't even find the strength to move.

He could hear a dark whisper from inside him say _You wont escape death twice_ and then his vision faded to black.

~~~

When he opened his eyes again, he was in his room in the monastery.

Tyrathan's nightmares and doubts still lingered on from his fever dream, but there was something different about them now that he couldn't quite place. A feeling, a stubborn and self-assured presence that had walked alongside him and refused to let him fall.

The door to his room opened by a fraction and Vol'jin's both curious and worried face looked in. The troll seemed to be shocked that he was awake as he looked once over his shoulder before letting himself inside and quietly shutting the door behind him.

"Ya nearly died," Vol'jin murmured softly, his voice still raspy and low from his wound but steady and stronger now. He padded barefoot across Tyrathan's floor and over to his bedside before crouching low so that he and Tyrathan were able to look at one another from the same height. 

"Da monks weren't sure..." his voice trailed off, but his meaning was easily understood.

The realization of what was with him in his nightmares came quickly to Tyrathan, and once he recognized Vol'jin's presence for what it was, it was impossible to see it as anything else. "It was you,” he tried to say, but the weakness from his fever made the words slur together.

Vol'jin's brows knit together in concern and he rested his arms on Tyrathan's bed so he could lean closer to him. "What are ya sayin'?"

Tyrathan didn't have the strength to try and make himself understood with words and instead rested his hand on top of Vol'jin's arm and gently tugged at him in an attempt to get him closer. Maybe it was because the two of them had shared their thoughts only hours before, but Vol'jin seemed to understand with only that small touch what the human wanted. 

With another cautious look over his shoulder to confirm that the door was closed, Vol'jin crawled into bed with Tyrathan and pulled him close.

The feeling of having Vol'jin's warm body pressed against him made all lingering doubts in his mind disappear.

 

3- 

Tyrathan could sense Vol'jin's approach before he could hear him. Thoughts of the troll had been consuming him after that night and, ever since, he seemed hyper aware of where Vol'jin was and what he was doing. He had come to the mountain to try and escape the troll, but it seemed the Light would never allow him such luck.

"You're quieter than most trolls, Vol'jin, but I'd have long since died if I couldn't hear one sneaking up on me,” he quipped, not even bothering to turn and catch the stubborn look of annoyance that Vol'jin was sure to have.

"Trolls do not sneak," Vol'jin replied, "And ya did not hear me." Tyrathan couldn't help but crack a smile; he could practically hear the pout in the troll's voice.

"Chen's brew, or my scent?" he asked. From one hunter to another, it was commonplace to ask what it was that gave yourself away to a friend. Tyrathan finally turned and faced him, still smiling, and answered. "I spent many hours getting your scent out of bedding."

Even with the few feet between them and the bright sun reflecting off the mountain's snow, he could see the faint blush forming on Vol'jin's cheeks. He hadn't meant for it to sound so suggestive, but it was worth it to get such a reaction from the troll.

"I would not be disturbing you..." Vol'jin muttered in apology but Tyrathan shook his head and cut him off.

"I mean to apologize to you."

"Ya have done me no slight." Vol'jin's response was too quick and it left Tyrathan reeling. He couldn't tell if the troll was telling him that it was fine or if he just wanted to forget the whole thing. Ever since that night they had spent together in Tyrathan's bed, Vol'jin had been ... avoiding him.

And Tyrathan couldn't stand it.

"When I asked you to-" he couldn't bring himself to say the words, feeling any admission of the act would leave him too vulnerable "- That sense of you was still in my head. It lingers still. Less and less."

Tyrathan trailed off and watched Vol'jin closely for any reaction. All the troll would give away is a narrowing of his eyes in focus on the human's words. 

"It was overwhelming at the time and I apologize if my actions were too much. It won't happen again," he continued. The excuse we feeble at best, but if it meant that Vol'jin wouldn't avoid him in the hallways of the monastery any longer, then he would swallow his pride and take it.

There was a long pause of silence between them that was only interrupted by the rusting of their woolen clothes from the wind.

"And what if I want it to happen again?" Vol'jin finally said, his feet crunching in the snow as he stepped closer to him. Tyrathan felt his heart pound and his cheeks flush as Vol'jin closed in on him. 

He couldn't help but think to their most recent match of Jihui; Vol'jin had made continuous poor plays that ended up losing him the match. Instead of attacking, he kept switching the face of the dice and maneuvering his fleet closer to Tyrathan's own. It hadn't made sense to him at the time, but now with Vol'jin's body so close to him that he could feel the troll's body heat radiating in waves, he wondered how he could have been so blind to his advances.

Swallowing around the nervous lump in his throat, Tyrathan placed a hand cautiously to Vol'jin's shoulder, neither pushing him away nor pulling him closer. He looked up into the troll's gold eyes for reassurance that his action was welcome, and instead found an intense, burning hunger that left his legs feeling weak.

"Then I would want to feel you inside me again,” he offered, voice so soft that it was barely heard about the wind.

That seemed to be the only encouragement that Vol'jin needed as he wrapped an arm under Tyrathan's cloak and around the human's lower back, pulling him close and their bodies flush together, before catching the human's lips in a rough kiss. Thankfully, Tyrathan had some practice with tusks and was able to show Vol'jin through participation exactly how best to tilt his head and part his lips so that they would fit perfectly together.

He nipped teasingly at Vol'jin's lower lip as he slid a hand down to cup the troll's hardening length, causing Vol'jin to let out an exclamation in Zandali and roughly shove Tyrathan's back against the mountain side. Not one to be outdone, Tyrathan deftly untied the knots to Vol'jin's ill-fitting robes and scraped his blunt nails along the sensitive skin of the troll's ribs.

"I been thinking about this a lot,” Vol'jin murmured as he pressed biting kisses against Tyrathan's shoulder and wrapped the human's legs around his waist so that he could grind himself against the human's ass. Tyrathan let out a high-pitched whine in encouragement and rubbed his clothed cock against Vol'jin's belly, the thought of Vol'jin laying in his bed at night- touching himself- and thinking about -this- was almost too much for him.

Vol'jin growled low next to Tyrathan's ear and he could feel the troll fumbling between them to free his own large and throbbing cock from the confines of his pants only to rub himself against the human's much smaller and clothed one. Tyrathan glanced down and flushed bright red at the sight; Vol'jin's cock was -at least- twice his own in both length and width and the idea of having the Troll inside him, forcing him to stretch to what would seem like an impossible size-! All Tyrathan could do in response was cling tightly to Vol'jin's shoulders and murmur vulgar promises in Zandali. It seemed that was all Vol'jin could take as he pulled the human's pants down just far enough to expose his tight hole.

"You want me inside you?" Vol'jin growled in Zandali as he pressed one of his fingers testingly against Tyrathan, feeling the human's anus struggle to relax in the cold of the open mountain air.

"Yes-! Please-! Vol'jin-!" Tyrathan gasped, the Troll's name catching on his lips as a finger was pushed inside him. It wasn't his first time having something inside him this way before, but it had been a while and the burning sensation of being so roughly filled with little preparation had him hissing. Vol'jin pressed apologetic kisses to any part of Tyrathan that he could reach, but didn't relent in his probing and stretching of the man's hole. 

By the time that Vol'jin had pulled his finger free and was slotting his leaking cock up against Tyrathan's loosened hole, the man's desperation had won out and he no longer cared about what momentary discomforts he would have, so long as it meant that he could have feeling of Vol'jin inside him once more. And then with one sharp thrust from Vol'jin, he was suddenly fuller than he remembered being possible.

"Vol'jin-!" He cried as he squirmed uselessly against the rock and wrapped his legs tighter around the troll's waist in an effort to merely hold on. Vol'jin's thrusts were shallow and quick, his hot breath panting against Tyrathan's neck as the two of them rutted together desperately. 

It was Tyrathan who finished first. The intensity of it all was too much for him as let out a weak moan and came inside his own pants. Vol'jin let out a loud curse as Tyrathan's body became impossibly tighter around him and only managed two more thrusts before he was cumming in thick spurts deep inside of him.

The two of them stayed that way for a long moment, foreheads pressed firmly together and their panting breaths mixing int he cold mountain air, as they both tried to imprint the way they feel as being one in their memories.

 

4- 

There was never a moment of doubt in his mind that Vol'jin would be coming back for them. 

Tyrathan glanced over to Chen and Cuo. The two Pandaren were holding themselves together better than he had expected: neither of them complained about their bonds or despaired about the situation. Even after days of imprisonment, there was still a glint in their eyes that told him they were only waiting for the opportunity to free themselves once more.

The ship they were being held on was sailing _somewhere_ and the fact that they hadn't been killed yet meant that they were being held alive for some purpose. They only had to remain alive long enough to be reunited with Vol'jin and then they could escape.

At almost the very same moment Tyrathan had thought of the troll, the door to the upper deck opened revealing Vol'jin himself and the same Troll woman who had captured them in the Vale. She said something hushed in Zandali to Vol'jin who nodded in response. 

Seemingly pleased by this she gave him a coy smile and trailed her hand with far too much familiarity down his back before departing and closing the door behind her.

Chen bounded over to Vol'jin and- in his usual cheerful way- teased him about the fine clothes and gold he was dressed in. 

"They still be chains," Vol'jin quipped back before turning to Cuo and apologizing for the loss of the monk's brothers and sisters. 

Tyrathan heard him speaking but didn't hear the words. He couldn't focus on anything other than the way the woman had been touching Vol'jin- the way that Vol'jin didn't flinch away from her hand and in fact almost seemed to -expect- it. 

The longer he thought about it, the tighter the tendril of doubt in his chest became.

When Vol'jin's eyes finally rested on him, he couldn't help himself- the question burning inside him and boiling out. "Who was she? Why-?"

Vol'jin stopped him before he could finish his thought, "We gonna have time to discuss that, but I be having a question for you, my friend." The way the troll said 'my friend' betrayed the dark feeling that was currently consuming Tyrathan, as well.

"The truth. It be important."

A silence fell upon the room and Tyrathan could almost feel an axe hanging over his neck. Ready to cut down whatever it was that had been building between them in one fell swing. He swallowed around a lump in his throat and nodded, "Ask."

"Did Chen tell you what I said to the man we freed?"

"That I was dead. That you'd killed me? Yes,” Tyrathan managed a weak smile. Vol'jin had been one of the only reasons worth living this second chance at life and it seemed that the Light was determined to take even that from him. "But that wasn't the question you wanted me to answer."

"No,” Vol'jin frowned. "The man was wanting to know where you were. Fearing and hoping, that be what he was." The troll took a step closer to him, standing at full height and towering over him. There was an intensity burning off Vol'jin in waves, the kind that he didn't want to understand for fear of what it might mean.

"He wanted you breathing, saving him, and yet was terrified that you were. Why?"

Tyrathan felt exposed at the question. There weren't any promises of fidelity made between the two of them that day on the mountain, but from the way that Vol'jin stared at him he couldn't help but feel that his actions in the Vale might have doomed whatever future he had been hoping for. 

He did his best to avoid the question for as long as he could, picking at his nails and looking down at the floorboards as though avoidance would somehow preserve whatever false impression Vol'jin had built of him.

With a dark twisting in his chest, he eventually relented and confessed the whole story. His daughter, his wife, the man she had been falling in love with, his life of being a cold and efficient killer, the sha that ate at him even now...

... Everything.

"But they be your family." Vol'jin studied him closely; what the troll was looking for, he wasn't sure. "You still be loving them?"

He hesitated for only a moment, the dark spread of doubt running through his veins, before hanging his head and admitting, "Completely." As the words left his mouth, he knew that Vol'jin was never going to look at him the same way ever again. "The idea of never seeing them again will kill me by degrees."

Vol'jin let out a soft sigh and the aura around him shifted. He reached out to him and the troll's thick fingers- decorated with Zandali gold- stroked Tyrathan's cheek and brushed across his lower lip. "And yet you gonna surrender your happiness for theirs?"

Tyrathan let out an involuntary gasp, his eyes shooting up to lock with Vol'jin's own. He could feel the swirling mass of doubt sink down to his belly, making him feel nauseous. This wasn't what was supposed to happen-

"This is for the best,” the words rushed out of him. "You've seen me. You saw my shooting that night." Tyrathan wasn't sure what point he was trying to make, he just wanted Vol'jin to stop looking at him like that: like he understood the pain he was in and wanted to put it at ease.

"Killing is what I do, Vol'jin-" his voice cracked as the troll's fingers trailed down to his throat and across his jaw "-and I do it very well. Well enough to kill my family."

"This be a very difficult decision you've made.” Vol'jin, however, was so calm and so sure of himself and he couldn't understand why.

"I question it every day-" Tyrathan narrowed his eyes, pleading for an answer. "Why are you asking me?"

"I, too, have a very difficult decision to be making. Similar to yours but of a bit greater magnitude." Vol'jin sighed heavily. "No matter my choice, nations gonna bleed and people gonna die."

Tyrathan's mind was spinning, what did that mean? Did this have to do with the woman? Was this part of their plan to escape? What-

Then Vol'jin's lips were pressed against his own and all his doubts were gone.

 

5- 

Tyrathan's body had moved to shove Vol'jin out of the way before his mind had even registered that the spear would impale him instead. All he had known in that instant was that he would give anything and everything for Vol'jin, and as he laid there bleeding in the troll's hands, it looked like he was going to.

Distantly he knew he must be dying.

That time when he had been clinging so desperately to life before he was taken to the monastery, everything had hurt. The pain had brought a sharpness to his senses and it kept him moving. This time, however, all he could feel was a warmth that was slowly fading.

He could see Vol'jin's hands pressed against his belly, even if he could not feel it. Tyrathan's blood was staining his clothes and the red of it was quite a contrast against the blue of his skin.

"I’m not gonna let you die." Vol'jin said, that same stubbornness in his voice that reminded Tyrathan of the first time they had spoken. "I didn't get the one that killed you," the troll pleaded with him, using the exact same excuses that he himself had given to young soldiers that had died under his care, "and you be owing me an arrow for Garrosh."

Tyrathan cracked a weak smile and coughed up blood for his effort. He knew that Vol'jin was lying to him, but it was nice to be able to spend his final moments with someone who cared for him. 

Someone he loved.

The cold was overwhelming him now and an unnatural silence flooded his senses. 

_Nothing be forever..._ a dark voice broke through the silence before everything faded to black.

~~~

Tyrathan never expected to open his eyes again.

And yet when he did Vol'jin was already there. The troll's warm body was curled loosely around his own, much like the night they had shared a bed together so long ago. His long arms held the human close and resting one palm flat on his chest as though to make sure his heart was still beating. Vol'jin's gold eyes fluttered open, stirred awake from Tyrathan's shift in breathing and the two of them stared at each other in the silence for a long moment.

"Ya almost left," the Troll murmured finally before pressing a soft kiss against Tyrathan's forehead.

 

+1- 

The journey to Kalimdor took longer than he had expected, but after the bombing of Theramore, the only route to the other continent that wouldn't draw heavy attention from the Alliance military was through the goblin port in Ratchet. And while it had taken more gold than he would have wished to part with to bribe his way across the Great Sea, now there was only Durotar between him and his goal.

When the sun began to dip below the horizon, Tyrathan set up a small camp off the main road a few miles south of the Crossroads. Laying on his bedroll he stared up at the stars, listening to the crackle of the dying embers of his fire pit, as he ran through his head what he was going to -say- to Vol'jin after so long being apart.

He had been so lost in his thoughts that it embarrassingly took a sudden snap of a twig to realize that he was no longer alone. Grabbing a knife, he jerked up and prepared himself to fight off whatever wandering creature had made its way into his camp. 

What he saw, however, forced a gasp from his lungs.

On the other side of the flame stood a dark-skinned troll that must have been at least a full head taller than even an Amani. If that wasn't striking enough, he also wore body paint spread across his chest in the shape of a ribcage that looked as though it was almost glowing in the firelight, a leather kilt that was both stained and dripping with a thick red liquid, and a ritual mask that resembled that of a skull.

"You gonna kill me, little man?" the troll laughed as he gestured to the knife still gripped tight in Tyrathan's hand. Tyrathan didn't know what compelled him to do so— self-preservation, perhaps— but at the taunt, he immediately tossed the blade away from him and into the brush. 

"I knew there was sumthin' I liked about you!" the troll shook his finger at Tyrathan and laughed again before crouching down into a relaxed position.

Despite the friendly attitude of the stranger, the ominous pressure in the air was overwhelming. 

As Tyrathan pulled himself to his feet, heart pounding in his chest, he noticed other small details about the stranger that only sped the adrenaline through his veins- like how the troll's hands and feet were completely devoid of flesh or that it wasn't a trick of the firelight, but his eyes really were glowing with the same unnatural mist that one might see in a Death Knight.

"Do I know you?" he asked. The question only made the stranger's mouth split into a toothed grin, and what Tyrathan had once thought was a mask now became readily clear was instead the stranger’s exposed skull.

"No, but I be knowing you." Tyrathan's eyes locked with the glowing pits of the troll's own, and a shiver shot down his spine. 

"I also know you be lookin’ for Vol'jin." He had opened his mouth to say something, but the troll cut him off- "You too late, human-" the stranger said with another taunting laugh, "Vol'jin be dead."

Tyrathan could feel his heart skip a beat, the words escaping his lips before he could even think to stop himself, "You're lying..."

"I never lie!" the troll boomed as he stood to attention. With two long strides, he stepped through the campfire as though flames and burning cinders meant nothing. Tyrathan was taken aback by this and tripped over a rock, effectively knocking himself to the ground. 

As the creature loomed over him, it was as though the darkness of the night came with him, swallowing all light from the flames as a cloud would over the moon. 

"I be comin’ here out of the goodness of my heart. Don’t make me be regretting it."

Tyrathan swallowed and muttered an apology to whatever this creature was. 

Thankfully it seemed to work, as it let out another booming laugh and crouched down again, staring the human down with its glowing and hollow eyes.

"Don't look so sad, Vol'jin's man." The creature taunted again, "You will see him again soon enough. You belonged to me once and I will come to collect you once more."

Tyrathan had only just opened his mouth to ask him what that meant, when the creature faded away into nothingness as quickly as he arrived. Leaving nothing, not even footprints, behind to prove he was ever there. He scrambled to his feet once more and frantically looked across the open plains of Durotar for something- anything.

Along the horizon where he knew Orgrimmar to be, he could see the glowing of newly sparked bonfires and hear the rise of faintly beating war drums.

His heart fell to the pit of his stomach and deep down he knew it was true.

Vol'jin was dead and he would never see him again in this life.


End file.
